Nice photo. We had a 2.5" (the ones I was shooting!) at Independence come down on the walkway between shooting areas, bounce, and break at ground level. All of us saw it except Charles... also very pretty.

We look so cool in our pyro gear. I'm not even wearing the welder's jacket in these photos because it's too damn hot in the house.

Mostly True Comics: Dating Dr. Venkman

I hadn't thought of that, and see, prettyh, I told you I found him (character AND actor) creepy... heh.

Vaguely related, I found the episode of Wait, Wait--Don't Tell Me!" with Harold Ramis as the Not My Job guest. We must have heard it in reruns a year or two later, though, because the original air date is the birthday I spent out cold on IV Benadryl after a particularly bad reaction to plasma aphoresis.

I'd say "yay Friday" but I have to leave for this year's 4th run on Tuesday and I don't feel at all prepared. Where has the year gone?

I did make a blueberry cake to take to work though.

It's like neon fireworks.

The new camera is not ideal for fireworks photography--the lack of a bulb setting is a serious flaw--but if you get the settings right you can still get some damn good photos. It takes very nice photos, too, and doesn't appear to have any autofocus issues.

Also I managed to snap my left index fingernail off juuuuuuuuust above the quick.

...and a very few photos (so far) from this year are up here.

Home again. Left the laptop in the Canton hotel on the first try, and ended up staying a day longer than planned in Cleveland because of it. Had an awesome Italian sausage sandwich at the East Sparta homecoming fair, which was a lot of fun, and got some fuckin' awesome pictures of their show. They're on the computer, but I'm too tired to sort through them properly right now. To hold you over, here's a picture of Rocket and Q*Bert in the laundry basket, and yes, that's the clean laundry.

I got a pair of my favorite boots! They were one of the last two lingering pairs in the store, coincidentally in my size (I take from a 7 to an 8 depending on the brand, according to their records my last pair was a 7, so hey), and about 50% off--$60-something. Probably the last pair I'll ever see in my life. One of these days we'll take the old pair to the store to see if they're repairable. They had some rather nice sneakers with steel toes and static-dissipative features, but offhand none that fit me.

Finding a good Asian market in Indy is not easy. I pulled up a list off a website somewhere and we went to two of them; the first one is out of business and the second one is primarily Korean, so they didn't have what I was looking for. Since they're all on the east side (where most of the Asian population is located) I'll maybe hit another one on the way home from work; if all else fails I'll try Columbus on the way home from the 4th.

Cat is still filthy. Cat is getting a bath tonight.

Need to finish figuring out our dinners for this week (I have a dental appointment Tuesday, and Charles has a second interview at a Catholic church with their choir on Thursday), then we can go do our grocery shopping. I also need to go to the library to drop off the second book of the "His Dark Materials" trilogy and pick up the third. I also need to figure out where to go to buy embroidery floss when I get paid next week... either the Wal-Marts in Muncie or maybe the one on the west side of Indy, maybe. (Ours recently remodeled and nearly eliminate the craft section.)

Definitely going to make cinnamon scones this weekend, and maybe English muffins from marykosher's recipe. (I'm feeling confident after making such good bread last week.) I really really need to put my tomatoes and peppers in the ground, and also I have pretty purple beans growing on my bean plants!

Currently watching some Indian magician demonstrating the bullet trick for Penn and Teller. I love his accent.

No weather forecasts for July 4th up yet, but Independence, Ohio is currently forecasting out to be 10 degrees cooler than Indy for the next ten days. Sweet.

July 4th must be soon, I saw my first Ryder truck placarded "1.4G" this morning.

Yay, it's Friday! We start the day off with an all-employee meeting (groan) but after that... it's Friday! It's also payday, which is a mixed blessing--I get paid, but I spend a good portion of the day handing out paychecks and paystubs and getting very little else done.

The department normally orders Chinese on Friday. Yay! Especially on payday, when we're all not poor.

Charles and I leave for Cleveland Wednesday night. I can't believe July 4th is so close already. I need to start my big-ass packing list. We're down a (small) show this year, which eliminates a little bit of stress, but still. I'm away from work for a whole WEEK.

And now, a link to share. Not work safe, not family safe, it's like surf music with naughty bits. Touching Things is Fun. It's also annoyingly catchy.

I have found this year's Holy Grail of sunblock: Hawaiian Tropic Ozone SPF 70.